So says a study published Feb. 3 by the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. It finds that 71.4 percent of U.S. adults get more than the recommended 10 percent of their daily calories from added sugars in foods and drinks — and that higher levels of sugar consumption are correlated with higher risk of death due to cardiovascular disease (CVD).

“Too much sugar does not just make us fat; it can also make us sick,” Laura A. Schmidt, a professor of health policy at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, wrote in a commentary that accompanies the study. Continue reading →

Current recommendations for children to exercise an hour every day are “insufficient” to protect them from heart and blood circulation problems later in life.

Children under age 10 need at least 80 minutes of physical activity a day to keep them healthy, including 20 minutes of vigorous exercise, conclude researchers publishing in the journal BMC Medicine.

This new research into the links between exercise in younger children and the risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adulthood is part of the European Commission-sponsored project known as IDEFICS (Identification and prevention of Dietary – and lifestyle – induced health Effects in Children and infantS). Continue reading →